[scribus] Using the #scribus chat room

[Craig Ringer]

Hedley Finger wrote:

> [14:33] 	[ERROR] 	Connection to irc://irc.freenode.net/ 
> <irc://irc.freenode.net/> (irc://irc.freenode.net/ 
> <irc://irc.freenode.net/>) timed out. [Help 

[Looking at your email user-agent, you appear to be using Windows. If 
this is not the case, please mention what OS you are in fact using.]

This is a network error. Check your firewall settings, and consider 
trying a different freenode server. If you have a 3rd party software 
firewall, all bets are off as they sometimes think IRC is a virus trying 
to talk to its control source and block it*.

If you don't have any luck with firewall settings, get a better IRC 
client such as XChat. There are free XChat builds for Windows from SilverEx:

   http://www.silverex.org/download/

Make sure to add xchat to the allowed applications list in your 
firewall, be it Windows Firewall or a 3rd party one. Consider also 
opening the ident port (113); with ident open you'll get much quicker 
connections.

* 3rd party software firewalls are really unnecessary on modern Windows, 
and are usually downright evil. They cause even more problems than virus 
scanners, which is saying something. Removing them can be a wee bit 
tricky, though, as they often leave your IP stack in a messsed up state 
and the built-in firewall disabled. Consider avoiding them in future, 
unless you really need "fancy" firewalling like custom egress filtering 
- and if you need that, consider getting a real firewall.

--
Craig Ringer